Military suspends R&R flights to BWI, other airports

<p>The military has suspended daily R&R flights into Baltimore-Washington International Airport and other airport hubs, citing the continuing unrest in areas of Iraq.</p><p>For the past several weeks, soldiers eligible for rest and relaxation leave in the United States have taken commercial flights home out of Kuwait City International Airport at the Army's expense, spokesman Hank Minitrez said Friday.</p><p>"Because of heightened tensions in-country and operational requirements, military transport and contract air are not available at the moment," Minitrez said.</p><p>Minitrez said it was unclear when R&R flights would resume.</p><p>The Pentagon turned to BWI last September when it first launched its R&R program, described as the largest such effort since the Vietnam War. Troops flew out of Kuwait City on military transports or on flights under contract with the military, stopped briefly at a military air base in Germany, and then to Baltimore. Baltimore's airport was chosen because it was a major military gateway for troops stationed overseas, with a sizable contingent of the military's Air Mobility Command stationed there.</p><p>At the height of the program, BWI received on average 200 troops a day, authorities said. The other two major participants in the program, Hartsfield Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth, received similar numbers last fall.</p><p>The number of troops on leave has dropped dramatically since spring, after the Pentagon began its major troop rotation. For example, an average 87 troops per day have flown out of Kuwait City in May.</p>

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